from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, KenyaNAIROBI, (CAJ News) – HUAWEI reached the highest level of its global market share in the first quarter of 2019: its sales volumes have increased by half in the first months of 2019, knocking Apple out once again from its position as the second biggest smartphone seller in the world. By all accounts, the Shenzen-based telecom giant should have been on its way to the top, increasing its sales and presence all over the world but a recent turn of events has apparently hampered its dreams of domination.

A few days ago, the US government has declared a national emergency on cybersecurity, banning Huawei and its affiliates from purchasing technology from the US – both hardware and software. As a result, Google, Intel, Qualcomm, and many other companies have already announced that they are cutting their ties with the Chinese smartphone manufacturer.

Google

Globally, Huawei has a 17% market share. In Nigeria, less than 2% of all smartphone users have a Huawei device, according to StatCounter. If you are one of them, don’t worry. You’ll be able to <a href=”https://www.betway.co.za/Betgames” title=”play betgames at Betway on your mobile” target=”_blank”>play betgames at Betway on your mobile</a> and benefit of Google services like the Play Store and Google Play Protect: the ban affects the handsets that are not yet in use. You might run into issues like delayed updates and patches in the near future.

While the millions of Huawei owners around the world will not be seriously affected by this ban, the company itself will be hit hard by it – and so will its suppliers.

“Washington’s decision to force U.S. companies to stop doing business with tech giant Huawei creates losers on both sides,” Huawei’s official Twitter profile read on Saturday. For one, Huawei won’t be able to maintain the equipment it already sold to US customers – telecom companies in US states relying on the Shenzen-based telecom giant for running their wireless and internet infrastructure.

At the same time, Huawei has let the world know that it was prepared for such a situation: it has backup solutions to fall back to, including its own Kirin chips, it has its own app marketplace, and is reportedly working on its in-house mobile operating system as well. But this doesn’t help the companies that built their livelihood on supplying the Chinese telecom giant, though – and there are many of these, both in Asia and in the US.

At the same time, Huawei sees this issue as a temporary setback at worst. “We have already been preparing for this,” said Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei. “It is expected that Huawei’s growth may slow, but only slightly. Policies that threaten trading partners one after another rob companies of risk-taking attitudes and the U.S. will lose credibility.”

Africa and some of the world’s foremost innovators in technology and finance will converge in Cape Town, South Africa next week at the SingularityU Conference

by MTHULISI SIBANDAJOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – SOME of the world’s foremost innovators in technology and finance will converge in South Africa next week as part of efforts to future-proof the continent into the fourth industrial revolution.

They will meet under the aegis of the inaugural Exponential Finance Summit, organised by SingularityU South Africa, in collaboration with partners Development Bank of Southern Africa, Deloitte and MTN.

SingularityU South Africa has announced more speakers to the programme for the inaugural summit, which will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on May 29 and 30.

“As part of our journey in future-proofing Africa, we are thrilled to have added more incredible speakers to the lineup for our Exponential Finance Summit. We feel a great sense of pride to be bringing these world class experts and thinking to our South African shores,” said Shayne Mann, co-Chief Executive Officer of SingularityU South Africa.

Co-CEO of SingularityU South Africa, Mic Mann, said through the Exponential Finance Summit, they hoped to facilitate meaningful networking connections on a global scale, encourage ideas that could change the financial world, stimulate the South African economy and
kickstart a strong venture capital ecosystem.

“Impact is the currency of the future and these new speakers promise to add exactly that,” Mann said.

Glynn is the co-founder and General Counsel of MobileCoin, a company that provides private, mobile and digital cash payment systems. His talk will address privacy in the world of exponential data.

Kallner, currently the CEO for Discovery Life, and overseeing the group’s Marketing and Distribution, will address the convergence between banking and insurance.

Wierzycka is known for her strong anti-corruption corporate activism in South Africa. She is in high demand domestically and internationally as a speaker on the topic of ethical corporate leadership.

Malinga, who recently returned from Silicon Valley, is part of the Singularity University South Africa faculty with a focus on Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data.

Managing Director of SqwidNet, Malinga is responsible for building an IoT connectivity business in South Africa in partnership with International IoT giant SIGFOX.

In addition to his CEO role, he oversees the solutions division for SqwidNet, a fully-owned subsidiary of Dark Fibre Africa.

As a member of the South African Singularity University faculty, Rosman specializes in machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics and automation.

He is a principal researcher in the Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems group at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa.

Rob Nail, CEO and associate founder of Singularity University, said, “We expect that these two days will incite and inspire action that will lead to breakthroughs in Africa’s economy.

– CAJ News

]]>http://cajnewsafrica.com/2019/05/24/inaugural-summit-readies-africa-for-industry-4-0/feed/0‘Business as usual for Huawei in South Africa’http://cajnewsafrica.com/2019/05/24/business-as-usual-for-huawei-in-south-africa/
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Huawei Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ren Zhengfei

by SAVIOUS KWINIKAJOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – HUAWEI, which is contending with a ban from the United States (US), said it had for some time been working to mitigate the impact of the ban on its clients in South Africa.

In a statement, the technology company and smartphone maker, said in South Africa, it would “continue to serve all our customers and partners with the same focus and dedication as before, and contribute to the ICT sector with vigour, as the fourth industrial revolution is a key economic focus for growth and social development.”

It pledged to continue providing security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that had been sold and that were still in stock globally.

“We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.”

In an interview with a local media house on Wednesday, Huawei Vice President of Corporate Communications, Glenn Schloss, said their devices were “completely unaffected” by restrictions in the US.

“For owners of Huawei handsets in South Africa it will be business as usual,” Schloss said.

He said the company remained positive and preparing for various eventualities.

“We are stockpiling components and have been working with our supply-chain partners for some time,” Schloss assured.

In an interview with Chinese media this week, Huawei Founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei, was also bold.

“We will certainly be able to continue serving our customers. Our production capacity is huge, and adding Huawei to the Entity List won’t have a huge impact on us. We are making progress in bidding worldwide,” Zhengfei said.

Zhengfei highlighted in the first quarter of this year, Huawei’s revenue grew 39 percent over the same period last year.

“This rate decreased to 25 percent in April, and may continue decreasing towards the end of this year. But the US ban will not lead to negative growth or harm the development of our industry,” he said.

Avon Justine Group Vice President Turkey, Middle East and Africa, Mafahle Mareletse

by MTHULISI SIBANDAJOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – AVON Justine, the beauty company, has restated its commitment to championing the empowerment of women by aligning its digital platforms.

It is also celebrating the milestones achieved by so many of its independent representatives across its operations in Southern Africa.

According to the 130-year old company that pioneered the direct-selling model in the beauty industry, the direct selling model gives expression to its drive to foster women empowerment and financial independence.

Women are the primary drivers of the beauty industry and Avon Justine believes they should be given an opportunity to reap the benefits of the growth of the beauty and cosmetics industry.

According to the Direct Selling Association’s latest report, the industry consists of 79 percent women and in the last financial year, they were part of the 1,3 million sales representatives in the industry who earned over R4 billion.

“We share the conviction that no country truly ever flourishes if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of 51 percent of its citizens,” said Mafahle Mareletse, Group Vice President Turkey, Middle East and Africa (TMEA).

Mareletse said this was more apt in the countries of Southern Africa where the company operates, which are battling the scourge of domestic abuse and gender-based violence.

“We believe that financial independence is one of the most potent tools to combat patriarchy, stimulate economic growth and empower women,” Mareletse added.

Nishani Singh, Commercial Transformation Director at Avon Justine, outlined the company’s digital transformation journey and shared the milestones achieved thus far to align the company to the digital age.

Direct Deliveries is a digital store feature for customers. It was introduced earlier this year.

“The journey is just the beginning. We will continue to pilot and launch new functionalities and innovations to help support our beauty entrepreneurs to unlock their full earnings potential,” Singh said.

Avon Justine on Thursday unveiled the inaugural rewards programme, where six top performing sales representatives in the past quarter from across sub-Saharan Africa, drove away with a luxury car, each worth over R170 000.

“Our sales representatives are the engine of our growth, and it is only fitting that we incentivize and reward them for the hard work they are doing in growing Avon Justine products and making it the preferred beauty and cosmetics brand in South Africa,” said Mikey Bicknell, Sales Director for Avon Justine.

from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, NigeriaLAGOS, (CAJ News) – TRANSFORMATIONAL technologies have been identified as the solution to traffic and waste management as well as land-related issues in Nigeria.

These are among a number of challenges bedeviling Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy.

Adebayo Sanni, Managing Director of Oracle Nigeria, said the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain represent an unprecedented opportunity for enterprises in the public as well as private sectors to solve the aforementioned problems.

He said for example, in Nigeria, the potential to combine real-time data from IoT devices from intelligent trash bins with historical waste-level of each trash bin could help waste management become smarter; especially for a city like Lagos that generates about 13 000 metric tonnes on a daily basis.

“The entire waste management system can become smarter overtime, learning from the data collected,” Sanni said.

He said such a solution would help an organisation like Lagos Waste Management Authority to make better data-driven decisions for a cleaner city.

This application can be replicated to address traffic management.

The current traffic lights can be IoT enabled to ensure an efficient flow of traffic. The roads can also have sensors and information about road conditions, combined with data coming from road users to provide drivers with real-time traffic information.

With such a system, drivers can be alerted to take alternative roads in case of an accident.

Sanni said a blockchain solution could bring transparency to all stakeholders in the property business for examples.

Government can use such a system to track and ensure the right taxes have been paid to the government for every transaction; buyers can also have peace of mind as all the documents for the transactions can be verified real-time.

“These transformational technologies will bring change – in our professional lives, our personal lives and country as a whole,” Sanni said.

The executive said the question was not when, but how to bring the future forward and empower African governments and businesses to take advantage of the transformative impact of IoT, AI, and blockchain.

The answers, he said, are in the Cloud.

“A technologically enabled future has arrived. It is time to carve your niche in it,” Sanni concluded.

by SAVIOUS KWINIKAJOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – HUAWEI has assured of its commitment to a safe software system, following reports Google has suspended business with the company.

It was reported on Monday that Alphabet Inc’s Google had suspended business that requires the transfer of hardware and software products, except those covered by open source licenses.

In a statement on Monday, the Chinese firm said it had made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world.

“As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry,” the company stated.

It added it would continue providing security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that had been sold and that are still in stock globally.

“We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.”

In a statement, Google said it was complying with United States government orders and reviewing the implications.

It stated for users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect would continue to function on existing Huawei devices.

Following the US ban, Glen Schloss, Huawei Vice President of Corporate Communications, on Friday said Huawei was reviewing the implications of the US action for its customers.

Schloss said Huawei had been developing its own operating system (OS) and while they preferred to continue using Android, which its consumers loved, they had been working on contingencies.

“We have diversified our global supply chain in anticipation of the ban,” he was quoted saying.

– CAJ News

]]>http://cajnewsafrica.com/2019/05/20/huawei-reacts-to-android-suspension-reports/feed/0No research on water despite persistent droughthttp://cajnewsafrica.com/2019/05/17/no-research-on-water-despite-persistent-drought/
http://cajnewsafrica.com/2019/05/17/no-research-on-water-despite-persistent-drought/#commentsFri, 17 May 2019 06:45:23 +0000http://cajnewsafrica.com/?p=30616

The concern raised at the African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa conference and exhibition held in South Africa.

South Africa is a water scarce country, yet expenditure on research and development for water security does not reflect this picture.

Dr Hlamulo Makelane, research fellow at the Nelson Mandela University, said funding for water research declined over the last five years, which she said was highly problematic.

“Funding for research and development declined by 45 percent in the last five years. This is scary because as we speak the country (South Africa) has a water road map and I hope we will be putting up more money,” she said.

According to her, research and development have a direct impact on water resource management and promotes training and capacity building in the sector.

“It can lead to creative solutions and help influence how people and society behave,” Makelane said.

Makelane also stressed the need for intersectoral funding between government and the private sector for more progress towards water security.

Makelane reminded delegates South Africa is a water scarce country thus needs to improve demand management, storage and protect water sources more effectively.

“This all starts with investing in research because this is how we will know how to plan and decide what dams and reservoirs to build where,” she added.

There are reportedly more than 2 billion people worldwide in countries facing severe water constraints.

Africa is no exception.

Gift Sageme, Chief Executive Officer of Malawi’s Central Region Water Board, also underscored the importance of water security being integral to all facets of society.

He expressed surprise that governments tend to put the water sector behind other sectors like energy, roads, agriculture and health.

“What they (governments) don’t realise, however, is that without water no sector can survive,” Sageme said.

from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, AKANI CHAUKE in JohannesburgLAGOS, (CAJ News) – ANALYSTS are keenly awaiting the listing of MTN on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday morning.

Reports indicate that the deal by Nigeria’s largest non-oil company by revenue is valued at around U$6 billion.

“Given the market is down ytd (year-to-date) because investors have ignored most positive catalysts, we think MTN is likely to test the market’s lethargy given its strong growth story,” said Tunde Abidoye, Equity Researcher at FBNQuest Capital.

The market expert said the listing looks “decent” assuming it is lists at N90 (US$0,25) /per share, and that 20 billion shares are listed, while the implied current price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) multiple is 9,1 times.

This is given MTN’s earnings growth outlook is likely to remain in the double-digit territory in the near term.

It will be in the market to seek additional debt finance of N200 billion in 2019.

Management disclosed that the company will be making a final payment of N55 billion of its N330 billion regulatory fine by the end of May.

MTN Nigeria’s growth in voice revenue continues to be driven by strong y/y growth in the number of subscribers, which were up by around 15 percent y/y in 2018.

Presently, MTN accounts for about 39 percent of total number of mobile phone subscribers in Nigeria. Globacom, Airtel and 9mobile have market shares of 26,2 percent, 25,6 percent and 9,2 percent respectively.

On Wednesday, May 15, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed parent company said the listing of MTN Nigeria deepened the equity capital markets base of the country, which made it possible to broaden the shareholding base of the Nigerian entity.

It disclosed the listing by introduction means that the existing shares of MTN Group (78,8 percent), the Nigerian investors (19,4 percent) and other investors (1,8 percent) will be listed without an additional public sale of shares.

“From this point, all MTN Nigeria shareholders will be free to trade their shares on the NSE,” the MTN Group stated.

They have met in Shenzhen, China for the 2019 International Smart City Forum with International Friendship Cities.

It ran under the theme, “Ushering in a Bright Future for Smart Cities.”

Guo Ping, Rotating Chairman of Huawei, said the company was dedicated to building a smart city digital foundation that enabled integrating, exploring, analyzing, and sharing data, by using ubiquitous connectivity, a digital platform, and pervasive intelligence.

“More importantly, we develop a digital brain for cities in hand with application partners, building a common ecosystem with mutual advantages,” he said in his presentation titled, “Building a Maslow Model for Smart Cities.”

“This brain will provide advanced ways to help cities make informed development decisions and will allow e-government, transportation, and policing domains to go digital. In doing so, we hope to build smart cities featuring smart administration, more benefits for residents, and prosperous industry development.”

In addition, Huawei has built 12 OpenLabs around the globe to conduct customer-oriented joint innovation with partners.

As a co-organizer, Huawei is a global leading Smart City and Safe City solution provider.

Huawei Smart City and Safe City solutions have served more than 700 cities in over 100 countries.

Yan Lida, President of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said building a smart city was a long and constantly evolving process.

“Based on Huawei’s digital platform, cities will be like organic life. New applications will emerge and grow through iteration, and eventually achieve overall prosperity,” Lida continued.

Ugo Valenti, CEO of Smart City Expo World Congress, in his presentation titled, “A New World of Smart Cities”, said innovative technologies, including 5G, internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud, were disruptively renovating how cities are governed and managed.

“By nurturing Public-Private-People Partnerships, a co-creation model among government, corporations, and citizens, smart cities will facilitate a more open decision-making process, and bring a people-centric new world,” Valenti said.

The event coincided with the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, and 40 years since the establishment of Shenzhen city.

The forum also aligned with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which include sustainable cities and communities.

Atsushi Koresawa, Director for UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said international cooperation was significant.

“We see a very good platform here today for cities to share experience,” Koresawa said.

by MTHULISI SIBANDAJOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE South African mining industry is undergoing an extensive transformation amid the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) taking root in what is among the major sectors of the continent’s most advanced economy.

Mining forms the backbone of the South African economy and is responsible for a third of the country’s commodity exports.

It is indirectly responsible for employment in associated industries, through its vast supply chain.

“The industry that everybody currently knows will be unrecognizable in five to seven years,” said Tony O’Neill, Technical Director at Anglo American.

He was speaking ahead of the first 4IR in Mining Seminar in South Africa.

The event is scheduled for the Gauteng Province on May 31.

Baletsema Mining Services, in partnership with BotsZa, are organising the conference.

“We look forward to welcoming powerful industry minds to our panel as well as significant stakeholders in the mining value chain, to not only drive a conversation at the seminar, but allow the audience to leave the room with some knowledge of what the future of mining looks like and action points that can be taken to ensure that the 4IR transition in the industry is as smooth as possible,” said Bokang Kelepa, Baletsema Mining Services Managing Director.

Officially opening the Invest in African Mining Indaba in February, Mineral Resources Minister, Gwede Mantashe, spoke about the Mining Charter III and its requirement for locally produced mining goods and services.

“This requirement provides South African mining technology companies with the opportunity to contribute immensely to the integration of the fourth industrial revolution in mining and will hopefully boost entrepreneurship in this regard,” Mantashe said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SoNa) highlighted the importance of South Africa adapting to change and embracing 4IR.

He mentioned the appointment of a Presidential Commission on the 4IR, whose 30 members were announced earlier this month.

“As government plays its role in creating an environment in which mining thrives for the benefit of all our people, we urge the industry to take advantage of the technological advances underpinning the fourth industrial revolution,” Ramaphosa said.